posted Aug 3rd, 2006 - Wednesday at the competition site of the FAI World Meet 2006 in Gera, Germany, ended like every other day. Teams and competitors mixed up in the crowd for the social part of the event. It was coincidence that some of the tallest competitors in the world were at the same place at the same time and close to the NSL camera.

From left to right: Ian Bobo (DeLand Fire), Gary Smith (DeLand Fire), Solly Williams (DeLand Majik), Henning Stumpp (FSC Remscheid 8-way), Craig Girard (Arizona Airspeed), Shannon Pilcher (DeLand Fire).

Their three teams have been in Gera for a few days already to make the last training jumps before the meet. The PD Factory Team part of DeLand Fire, Ian Bobo, Shannon Pilcher and Jonathan Taggle, came from a trip to a swooping competition in Spain and have to switch back to 4-way now. Arizona Airspeed completed the first part of the warm-up session in Germany already and has a day-off for sight-seeing today. The German 8-way team trains to get ready for the next showdown with the Italian team Ex3mo.

Stay tuned, this page will be updated soon.

Interview with Dan BC

The NSL News mentioned yesterday that Dan BC would make himself available for an interview. The former Airspeed world champion in 4-way and 8-way, who lives and works as a professional coach in Perris, California, has a busy schedule at the FAI World Meet in Germany.

He is currently working with the British national 4-way team in the female category, Perris Airkix, and also with the Russian 8-way team, RT Evolution Pro. Both teams are training today, and Dan BC had only a few minutes before he had to go back and prepare his teams for the next jumps.

The NSL News asked Dan BC to manipulate the scoreboards that the German organizers have set up for each Formation Skydiving event. The moveable plates with the team names and the scores for each round have already been placed on the scoreboard, and they were not in alphabetical order. The organizers had apparently taken a guess of the possible rankings.

It makes sense to have the team names in the area on the scoreboard where they will possibly be placed once the competition begins. The team plates will not have to be moved around all over the board if the placements were predicted well enough. However, the placements will surely be guessed differently by other observers.

The NSL News had permission by event manager Mathias Maushake to move the team plates around if necessary and encouraged Dan BC to set the names in the order that he expects. Dan BC was too polite and cautious to take on this task. His heart is with the US teams, but he coaches teams from Great Britain and Russia. "I have too many hats on", he said. Finally, he staid away from the scoreboard and commented today's action out in the field. The interview with Dan BC can be viewed by clicking here.

The NSL News will ask other coaches and VIPs to study the scoreboard and then manipulate it. The current standings in 4-way Open are: 1 - Russia, 2 - Italy, 3 - USA. The 4-way Women standings are: 1 - France, 2 - Great Britain, 3 - Russia. The 8-way standings are: 1 - France, 2 - USA, 3 - Russia.

The first real standings - with or without any changes of the team plates - will be on the scoreboard on Sunday.

FAI World Meet 2006 - from the organizer's view

Mathias "Mausi" Maushake has been in charge to bring the FAI World Championship of Formation Skydiving to Germany and then put together the logistics for the event. The feedback from teams, competitors and visitors on site has been very positive so far. The world meet seems to promise great competition and a good time for participants and visitors.

The NSL News asked the German organizer for more event information in this interview. The NSL News was also interested in his feedback as of the current scoreboard situation.

His mission was not only to provide the participants with a great event environment. His goals also included bringing the event to the skydiving world via the NSL News service and to the general public with a PR campaign.

The event site has been frequently visited by media representatives ever since the NSL News arrived in Gera. The German skydiving federation (DFV) has been supporting this PR campaign from the very beginning, and the nationwide coverage will help to promote the sport in Germany.

The media's interest in the event will also help to bring visitors to the airport in Gera when the competition begins. Mathias Maushake and his staff are prepared to accommodate the spectators and the participants at the same time. A large screen will make it easy to watch the jumps, and the spectators will have access to the areas of activities.

The NSL News is technically prepared to provide the on-line audience with the usual features. A special and new service is planned for the NSL-TV coverage. More details will be added later.

The NSL-TV interview with Mathias Maushake can be viewed by clicking here.